Society
Culture, traditions and belief systems arising out of the social relationships among a group of people
Brace Yourselves, the Drought’s Not Close to Over Yet
Unless we get a lot of rain, soon, the U.S. is heading for another summer of drought
February 22, 2013 |
By Colin Schultz
Meals in a Jar: From Pancakes to Baby Back Ribs, Just Add Water
Ready-made meals, good for months on a pantry shelf, work for busy nights, camping trips and power outages
February 22, 2013 |
By Marina Koren
Natural Gas Fracking May Be the Only Industry in China That’s Developing Slowly
It has the largest shale gas reserves in the world, but China is slow to push for fracking
February 22, 2013 |
By Colin Schultz
Google Glasses Might Go Hipster With Warby Parker
What if the nerdy Google Glasses were put into an acceptably nerdy frame? Like, say, a pair of Warby Parkers?
February 21, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
The Hunt for a New, Copyright-Free Happy Birthday Song
In the United States, "Happy Birthday to You"—one of the most popular songs in the world—is still under copyright. And it will be until 2030
February 21, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
An Artificial Ear Built By a 3D Printer and Living Cartilage Cells
Cornell scientists used computerized scanning, 3D printers and cartilage from cows to create living prosthetic ears
February 21, 2013 |
By Joseph Stromberg
Eleanor Roosevelt and the Soviet Sniper
Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a Soviet sniper credited with 309 kills—and an advocate for women's rights. On a U.S. tour in 1942, she found a friend in the first lady.
February 21, 2013 |
By Gilbert King
Can Chemistry Make Healthy Foods More Appealing?
Making healthy foods like tomatoes more palatable may increase our desire to eat these foods while decreasing our gravitation towards sugary snacks
February 20, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Robot Vanna, Trashy Presidents and Steak as Health Food: Samsung Sells Tomorrow
Advertisers love to use futurism as a way to position their products as forward-thinking
February 20, 2013 |
By Matt Novak
These Temporary Tattoos Could Fly Drones
A new electronic tattoo with a microchip inside it could mean people using their minds to fly drones, talk on the phone, and do all sorts of other things using only their minds
February 20, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
Vilcabamba: Paradise Going Bad?
Life in this legendary town in Ecuador's Valley of Longevity may be too good—and too long—to be true
February 20, 2013 |
By Alastair Bland
This Plastic-Printing Pen Lets You Draw In 3D
By melting then rapidly cooling plastic, this device lets you draw in the air
February 20, 2013 |
By Colin Schultz
Automating Hard or Hardly Automating? George Jetson and the Manual Labor of Tomorrow
And you think you're having a bad work week, just think about the robots
February 19, 2013 |
By Matt Novak
The Fashion World Has No Excuse, But There’s a Good Reason Bill Cosby Wore Crazy Sweaters
The story behind Bill Cosby's sweaters has a lot more to do with television production than fashion
February 19, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
Events February 19-21: Native Voices, a Modern Silent Film and Trumpet Jazz
This week, watch films by American Indian youths, see Academy Award-winner "The Artist" and snap your fingers to some world-class jazz
February 19, 2013 |
By Paul Bisceglio
No Salt, No Problem: One Woman’s Life-or-Death Quest to Make “Bland” Food Delicious
The more salt we eat, the more we crave. This new approach to less-salty cooking might help you step off the treadmill
February 19, 2013 |
By Twilight Greenaway
Geneticists Think They Can Fix Tasteless Tomatoes
By identifying the genes that control the production of volatile chemicals, we could soon turn the bland tomato's flavor back on
February 19, 2013 |
By Colin Schultz
Nuclear Bombs Made It Possible to Carbon Date Human Tissue
The fallout of the nuclear bomb era is still alive today - in our muscles
February 19, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
What Can We Do About Big Rocks From Space?
Last week's close encounters with space rocks have raised concerns about how we deal with dangerous asteroids. Here's how we would try to knock them off course.
February 19, 2013 |
By Randy Rieland
New York Is Running Out of Ways to Separate Gifted Pre-Schoolers From Well-Prepared Ones
Actually figuring out which four-years-old are naturally smart and which have simply prepared, is harder than you might think
February 18, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
